melos

Tissue (2019)

for orchestra
1st prize Rychenberg Competition, Winterthur, Switzerland
Based on the photo series “Wounds of violence” by Adél Koleszár.

The human skin has its sonic representation on the whole orchestra like a flexible and elastic body, represented by big percussion instruments: timpani, thunder sheet, bass drum, lion’s roar, and tam-tam Big surfaces of skin, wood, metal, string and paper are hit, rubbed, stroked, scratched, and touched with the fingers by the percussionists, echoed by the rest of the orchestra. It is a “concerto” for big surfaces, where the soloists are not only the percussionists but “the matter itself.” The orchestra doesn’t play “around” or “with” the players but “inside”: in an implosive gesture, the percussionists “swallow” the orchestra which is playing from the heart of their matter. The orchestral tissue expands and contracts in various levels: density (from solos to full divisi), rhythm, and tone division (going from small microtones to wide intervals). Ornaments and microtones in this piece are used mainly to create textures, crafting the sound from “inside out” and modeling micro-variations. As a cantus firmus, Tissue uses a traditional Mexican song, “La llorona (The weeping woman”) close to the spirit of Adél Koleszár’s geographical and emotional landscapes. Lyrics refer to romantic love, mainly as suffering and death, and women as an object to be deathly loved and consequently disposed of.

• Audio
• Video (version 1)
• Video (version 2) final Rychenberg competition
• Video explanations (percussion extended techniques)
• Comments about the piece by C. Arditto
• Press

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Performance history:

15 Nov 2025 -21hs
Orquesta Filarmónica de Mendoza
Conductor: Pablo Herrero Pondal
Teatro Independencia (Chile y Espejo, Ciudad)
Mendoza, Argentina

30 May 2025 -20hs
cond: Cecilia Castagneto
Auditorium La Ballena Azul
Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, Argentina
CCK

1 June 2024
Willem Pijper Prize 2023
CvA Symphony Orchestra
Amare Auditorium, Den Haag

16 May 2024 – 12.30hs
CvA Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Haitinkzaal at CvA, Amsterdam

9 September 2020
first prize Rychenber competition
Preisträgerkonzert Winterthur Switzerland
Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur

26 August 2019 09:30hs
recording session
Rychenber competition
Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur

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Casi cerca / Almost close (2003)

Program notes

Casi cerca / Almost close is based on the idea of suggestion rather than revelation. The music operates in the outer limits of perception; events are sensed rather than clearly perceived. Contour prevails over detail, the respiration of music is whispered.
The narrow dynamic range, the restricted instrumental timbre, and the blurred effect of the rhythmical combinations aim at creating music that is slightly ‘out of focus.’
Melodies are masked, melos being more important than the melody itself. Casi cerca is related to something possible to perceive but impossible to touch, impossible to see, impossible to hear. The word “casi” (almost) represents the fragile line that divides things that are close, completely apart.

Audio
Interview/article PDF
Analysis

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Canciones / Songs (1999)

Program notes

for soprano, baritone, flute, trombone y percussion

Canciones is based on the idea of singing instead of song, melos instead of melody. Even though the act of singing is ceaseless, the songs themselves are never defined. Singers and wind instruments sing a song without song. Melodies are invisible threads that flow as the reminiscence of a song, the memory of something that never existed.

• Audio

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Tissue (2019)

Performance history:

Related works:

Casi cerca / Almost close (2003)

Canciones / Songs (1999)

Related works: